A county Cork Fianna Fáil TD has criticised the high level of bureaucracy involved in applying for beef standard support schemes.

According to Cork North West TD Michael Moynihan, only 40% of suckler cow farmers in Cork had applied for the Beef Genomics Scheme and the Beef Data Programme by this year’s closing date.

 “Farmers are being discouraged from applying to agri-schemes because of the high level of red tape involved for very little return. Many of these are small family farmers who are in urgent need of funding but are being deterred from applying by the vast amounts of paperwork and form filling involved.

“Farmers I have spoken to in Cork also tell me they are also facing additional veterinary costs as blood samples have to be taken to qualify for the scheme. These extra charges put even more pressure on small farmers already struggling to cope with rising operational costs and falling beef prices.

“There are 5,854 suckler cow farmers in Cork but only 2,350 have applied for the schemes, which represents 40% of these farmers,” he said.

Emphasising the need for Minister Coveney to radically reconsider the RDP and reduce the amount of bureaucracy involved, he says that if the Minister continues with his plans for the Rural Development Programme (RDP), there’ll be a substantial fall off in the number of Cork farmers applying for agri-schemes across the board.

“The low level of funding on offer does not warrant the punishing level of red tape required to qualify for these programmes.”